PhD Opportunity: Development of deep UV light therapies
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Robert Thomson – Heriot Watt University
The germicidal properties of UV light at wavelengths of around 254 nm have long been known. Unfortunately, this wavelength is also mutagenic to mammalian cells, which has prevented its use in medical therapies where the light would come into contact with human tissues. Interestingly, it is now becoming recognised that deep UV light, at wavelengths below ~230 nm, is both germicidal and non-mutagenic, a combination that is thought to be due to the fact that intracellular proteins strongly absorb deep UV light, preventing it from reaching the DNA-containing nucleus in large mammalian cells. Through the U-care project, a £6M project funded by the UKRI-EPSRC, we are developing new technologies to enable the use of deep UV light for advanced biomedical therapies. In this PhD project, you will work within the U-care team to develop deep UV delivery technologies for potential applications in healthcare. You will work, for example, to create and exploit new types of optical fibre for delivering deep UV light to tissues and work within a multidisciplinary team to evaluate the therapeutic potential of the technologies going forward. The suitable candidate will be interested in cutting edge optics/photonics and the potential applications of optics/photonics in medicine.
Contact enquiries@u-care.ac.uk